Ashley Highfield has today announced he is standing down as chief executive of Johnston Press after six and a half years in the role.
The company announced the surprise news in a statement issued at 8.45 this morning.
It said Ashley, pictured below, had agreed with the board that he will not put himself up for re-election at the company’s forthcoming annual general meeting on 5 June.
David King, currently chief financial officer, will take over as CEO following the AGM.
The statement said: “Ashley is leaving for family reasons and in order to fulfil his plans to transition to a be a ‘plural’ non-executive director as the next phase of his career.
“As a result of Ashley’s resignation, Johnston Press will appoint David King, currently chief financial officer, to replace Ashley as CEO. David will step into the role of CEO with effect from the AGM. David’s replacement will be announced in due course.”
Said Ashley: “I have been privileged to lead Johnston Press during a period of unprecedented turbulence in our industry. Since 2011 we have grown our overall audience in particular our digital business, created an industry leading tele-sales operation and maintained margins.
“The acquisition of the i newspaper has been a particular highlight. I am proud of what the Board and my colleagues have achieved and would like to thank them all for their support. I wish David every success in his new role.”
Johnston Press chairman Camilla Rhodes said: “On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Ashley for his significant contribution since becoming CEO in 2011. We are sorry that he felt that his personal circumstances required a change at this time.
“Ashley oversaw the successful acquisition of the i newspaper, has driven growth in our digital footprint, while making substantial progress in reorganising and restructuring our business. We wish him every success in the next phase of his career.
“I am pleased to announce that David King will step up to become CEO. David has worked closely with the Board on our strategic review of financing options.
“I am confident that David will prove to be a strong leader and his transition to the CEO role provides stability to the business at this important time.”
Ashley joined JP as chief executive in November 2011 from technology giant Microsoft where he was vice-president with responsibility for its UK consumer and online businesses, including Microsoft News (MSN.)
Before that he had worked as a director of new media and technology at the BBC where he oversaw the launch of the BBCiPlayer and was editor of BBC Online.
His position had been under threat last autumn after JP’s largest shareholder, the Custos group headed by Christen Ager-Hanssen, publicly called for former Local World and Metro boss Steve Auckland to be given the CEO role.
However speculation about a takeover bid by Mr Ager-Hanssen has since receded after an attempt to call an EGM of shareholders was ruled out on procedural grounds.
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Think for a moment where JP was as a publishing business when Ashley took over in 2011 and where it is now. The difference is staggering.
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Highfield should walk away with his head hung in shame for the massive drain his salary and bonuses had on the business as he and his designer-shoed cohorts oversaw a collapse of quality and standards in the newspapers and the obliteration of JP’s market value.
A much-vaunted share consolidation process was an unmitigated disaster and helped to wipe £millions off the company books. My shareholding, built up from options when I worked there, was worth about £23k and now comes in at under £200. It’s laughable penny stock. What does that mean for people who invested real money in Highfield and his ambitions? What does that say for his “achievements”?
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Well I’m glad Ashley has “a career” – unlike many others at JP. What does this mean for the bond-repayment question?
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And who gets the job…another bean counter?
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“However speculation about a takeover bid by Mr Ager-Hanssen has since receded after an attempt to call an EGM of shareholders was ruled out on procedural grounds”
Isn’t the real reason that the takeover bid has “receded” the fact that there’s a “poison pill” in place which means that if there’s a change in control of the company, its loans become immediately repayable? Effectively the board can stay there and there’s not a lot anyone can do about it..
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Good riddance Ashley! This is the best news I’ve heard in a very long time. Your digital strategy never worked and the only good thing you did was to buy The i……..ironically a print product. Unfortunately the new CEO is a number cruncher. Don’t think much will change. Amber Rudd and Ashley both going in the same week. Is it too much to hope that Trump will be impeached by Friday. Party on here!
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“Ashley is leaving for family reasons and in order to fulfil his plans to transition to a be a ‘plural’ non-executive director as the next phase of his career.”
I have NOOOOOO idea what this means.
Still at least he has a career.
And probably hasn’t left with empty pockets.
Or a clear conscience?
Nah, that last bit’s pushing it.
Please, Ash mate, don’t come anywhere near my independent lot, there’s a good chap.
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From The Herald, last week:
“THE chief executive of Johnston Press has been awarded a bonus of nearly £250,000, writes Scott Wright.
One-third of the bonus awarded to Ashleigh Highfield has been deferred for three years, with the newspaper publisher citing its “current lack of distributable reserves”.
And the remaining two-thirds will be deferred until the remuneration committee is “satisfied that a sound financial basis for the company had been achieved”.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/business_hq/16190923.Johnston_Press_boss_awarded_bonus_but_pay_out_deferred/
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Whilst delighted to see him go is there any chairman or chief exec in the uk regional press who is any different than him in terms of having made bad decisions,poor appointments and overseen and sanctioned the wholesale dismantling of top quality editorial and commercial teams resulting in the broken and likely irrecoverable state the industry finds itself in today?
Too many have clung on far too long to their highly paid roles whilst copy sales crash and advertising revenue has haemorrhaged away,content to complacently sit back and watch the business and industry decline to such an extent that it’s surely in its last death throes as the industry many of us knew and were once proud to work in.
My hope now is that other company heads quickly follow suit and step down too.
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best news of the week
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JP’s digital top man, Jeff Moriarty, has left for a new job in the US. Any other exits we should know about?
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I see some JP weeklies are discounting their price by nearly 50 per cent until Christmas with vouchers.Nice farewell gesture Ashley to readers perhaps, but not a good sign for sales, which are, as they say, down the pan compared with peak figures.
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@EmployeeX
I too firmly believe the only hope the industry has is if the top men at all the main regional press groups all do the honourable thing and step aside allowing new business minded professionals ( not sidekicks who’ve agreed with the current actions which have caused so much damage) to take the helm. All groups are suffering massive losses with no sign of reversals of fortune so it’s time to call time on those who’ve allowed the destruction to happen.
None of the current incumbents in the bigger groups,be they chairman, CEO or heads of content,have shown any ability to turn things round so new brooms are desperately needed top to bottom to sweep away the old guard and attempt to salvage what little tensions of the industry, if not it’ll just be more of the same until all nothing remains.
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Typo
Tensions should read ‘there is left’
Apologies
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Will there be a book of condolence opened?
…..for all the staff unceremoniously dumped by Highfield and co
There was dancing in the streets last night I would imagine
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On a more personal level, I think we would all hope his family reasons are not serious ones, whatever we think of his professional performance.
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I totally agree with @employee X about the incompetent leadership throughout the regional press and like most I work with and speak to here in my neck of the woods believe the top floor hohnnies and yes men they surround themselves with are the biggest cause of the ongoing problems and should step down,however,if you’re being paid a fortune why would you step aside?
They’re out of their depths and clueless as to how to redress the runaway costs and failing businesses but cling on unchallenged by those beneath them so continue stumbling along accruing losses and running down the products.
I also agree with @canary and the point about bringing in proper business people with proven track records of successs but, let’s be honest , how many would want the job?
Time for shareholders to demand change or those responsible to ‘do an Ashley’ and jump ship now
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@paperboy
Count me out on your sentiment.
Think he thought of any of us when we got finished?
I wish him nothing but bad luck for the rest of his days after what he’s done to JP, and it’s ex employees.
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And let’s just add that I truly fear for my pension which I spent 23 years paying into, this company has been heading down the pan since iPad took over with his crazy strategy.
JP as a company is doomed thanks to Bowdler and Highfield, I pray that 100% of my pension will still available to me when the time comes, but I’m not confident.
Anyone tried to get a projection lately?
You’ll wait months and months – and that’s if you are lucky, Ive spoken to ex colleagues who are pulling their cash out and getting penalised for doing so, losing 10’s of thousands, but they think it’s a risk worth taking.
Worrying times….
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OK ppl. Bottom line…. AH et al saw what they thought was a money saving opportunity in digital. But they didn’t think it would fail. They say digital as a way to save ££££££s. No transport costs, not printing costs. Cut staff to the bone and more. However they miscalculated their advertisers attitude. Very few local weekly advertisers want to put an annoying micro or pop up ad on a screen the size of a smartphone. But of you have few or no advertisers then you are working for NOTHING. BUT AH and Co took it too far and tried to degrade their print products to boost digital… Well surprise surprise it isn’t working. The JP (dismal) websites are an actual competitor against their print products. But they, bad as they are they steal readers from their paid for papers. Crazy!!! Create competition for yourself!! However weekly papers still attract advertising, digital weeklies don’t. Readers are abandoning print because they are being ripped off with less and less local news, take your own photos and send them in and short staffed titles. What company ever survived by cutting quality and putting cover prices up. Its just insane!! Ashley has resigned because of the amazing mess he has left JP in, in my opinion. Ashley would have his bacon, eggs and sausages downloaded for breakfast if possible. His belief in digital is fair enough but when it clearly doesn’t work and the quality of papers falls so low and readers take the free option instead because the paper quality is now so bad then it’s total failure. Ashley and his digital dream has distorted the newspaper market. Asey and Co saw £££ signs with digital and consequently ran papers into the ground. They threw the towel in during the first round. It is not rocket science… Put out a good product and people will buy it. Not everything is suited to digital Ashley. Don’t put a square peg into a round hole. Don’t destroy your core product until you are SURE the alternative actually works. If it wasn’t broken then why fix it? Don’t miss the Christmas panto in Edinburgh.. Jack And The beanstalk starring Ashley Highfield as the magic beans!
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Sorry DDH, but did you cut and paste that analysis from 10 years ago?
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